[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 74 (Thursday, May 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5612-S5613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 JOSEPH GARDNER: A LIFE DEDICATED TO MAKING LIFE BETTER FOR PEOPLE AND 
                     EXPANDING THEIR OPPORTUNITIES

 Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, last week, the city of 
Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the United States of America 
suffered a grievous loss because of the death of Joseph E. Gardner. Joe 
Gardner's life was devoted to helping people, to helping communities, 
to bringing people into our economy, to bringing economic growth and 
hope to communities without much of either, and to expanding 
opportunities for everyone.
  I first met Joe when he was working at the Woodlawn Organization, 
more years ago than I care to remember. And our paths have crossed 
frequently ever since then. Joe worked on a wide variety of issues, but 
all of them were fundamentally about helping people, and especially 
poor people, make their lives better. I always admired his commitment 
to people and to neighborhoods, and the energy, the enthusiasm, and the 
savvy he brought to his work.
  Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, and Joseph Gardner was a product 
of Chicago neighborhoods. He was raised in the Lawndale neighborhood on 
Chicago's West Side, and he graduated from Mount Carmel High School in 
Woodlawn. He earned his undergraduate degree at Loyola, an institution 
in Chicago, and went back to the West Side for a masters degree from 
the University of Illinois at Chicago.
  With his education and his obvious gifts, he could have done almost 
anything. But for Joseph Gardner, education was not a means to get away 
from his community and his neighbors. Rather it was a way to open doors 
for poor neighborhoods and poor people who faced closed doors, and who 
had the doors to opportunity slammed in their faces for far too long.
  Joseph Gardner chose to give back to his city, and to his community. 
He chose to devote his life to making it possible for disadvantaged 
young people to match and exceed what he had accomplished. He fought 
for jobs, for decent housing, for education, for safe neighborhoods, 
for families, and for children. Throughout his career at the

[[Page S5613]]

Woodlawn Organization, at Operation Push, where he was executive vice-
president, and in government, the fight was always the same--to open up 
opportunities for people, to expand the possibilities for people, to 
build hope, and self-respect, and economic security.
  Joe Gardner made Chicago a better place. He died far too soon; there 
was still so much he wanted to do. I will greatly miss him, and I know 
the people of Chicago and the state of Illinois will miss him, 
particularly the poor people he cared so much about.

                          ____________________